338 SEASIDE DIVINITY. 



who was, doubtless, busily engaged plying his 

 vocation, and who, mistaking the mop for a fish, 

 seized it, with the intention of swallowing the 

 savoury morsel ; the woolly substance of the mop, 

 however, caught in his teeth, and being unable 

 to extricate himself in time he was hauled into 

 the boat, the victim of his own inordinate appe- 

 tite. 



It is to the structure and instincts of this singu- 

 lar creature, however, that we would especially 

 direct the reader's attention. From what has 

 already been stated, the mechanism of the fishing- 

 rod, as we may call the filament with which it 

 entices its prey, is adapted with extreme nicety 

 to its purpose. The peculiar form of the joint by 

 which it is fixed admits of its being moved in 

 every direction, and it is supplied with a set of 

 muscles under the control of the animal's will, 

 while the size and position of the mouth, and the 

 the situation of the eyes with reference to the 

 membrane or bait at the end of the rod, are 

 precisely such as to be most efficient. To these 

 peculiarities, we must add the instinct and craft, 

 without which the structure could not be available ; 

 but what is more, the structure and the instinct 

 are both adapted to the instinct of other fishes, 

 who, in pursuit of food, mistake the angler's lure 

 for some living object, such as they are wont to 

 pursue. This latter adaptation is entirely inde- 

 pendent of the angler itself, and the whole 

 arrangement points in the clearest manner to the 

 design of that Supreme Intelligence by whom 



